Wyoming Department of Tourism to Team with Pixar

In an effort to help promote their latest film and boost Wyoming tourism, Disney*Pixar has teamed with the Wyoming Department of Tourism to make Wyoming the official destination partner for their new film, "The Good Dinosaur."

"We are ecstatic to work with Disney*Pixar on 'The Good Dinosaur' and use the opportunity to increase interest in and visitation to Wyoming," Executive Director of the Wyoming Department of Tourism Diane Shober said of the partnership. Shober then elaborated further, saying that "The film is visually stunning and the setting is very characteristic of the Wyoming scenery we know and love. 'The Good Dinosaur' is a perfect fit for Wyoming with the mountain backdrops, sweeping landscapes, and ties to paleontology and culture of the American West."

During production of the film, Pixar animators made trips to Wyoming in 2013 and 2014 to see the landscapes that eventually inspired the landscape seen in the film. Animators traveled to the Jackson Hole area and Yellowstone areas and took pictures to use as references when animating the film.

Of the landscape, Production Designer Harley Jessup said "The area has a variety of landscapes, ranging from the Jackson Valley and the Tetons to the amazing geysers and waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park. We studied the grasslands and the high plains of the Red Desert, then incorporated it all into Arlo's [the main character] journey."

Peter Sohn, director of the film, added that "Everywhere we went, there was a duality: something beautiful and dangerous at the same time...It feels big-even to a dinosaur."